Duck Soup (1933)

Duck Soup (1933)

Duck Soup is a movie that is nearly ninety years old, yet it remains more relevant than ever thanks to the buffoonery that is present in the world’s political spectrum. The movie, the Marx Brother’s best, is hilarious and feature some prominent visual gags. Groucho Marx did say they were not aiming to create a political satire, but they did so anyhow. The brothers were pleased when Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator banned this film in his country. The plot is silly and flimsy, but the brothers do what they do best to carry the movie-to make people laugh and laugh until they cry tears of laughter.

This film was to be the last film the Marx Brothers made with Paramount. The studio was going through some costly restructuring and the brothers feared they would not get paid for their work. Thankfully, their contract dispute ended, and they were able to get the film to work. This film is also the last film that the fourth brother, Zeppo worked on. He was more of the straight guy, the more superfluous brother when compared to the other three.

As with most of their films, this film took inspiration from their stage and vaudeville acts. Their visual gags have always been popular, and the characters seem to be straight out of silent-era comedies. That said, Groucho and his perfect way of delivering zany lines of dialogue would fail miserably during this period…well, because there was no sound. One of their biggest stage acts was the mirror trick. Director Leo McCarey came up with the idea to incorporate this act into the film. It was done flawlessly. Harpo Marx dressed up as Groucho and perfectly imitated each other in a long, magnificent sequence. Physical comedy was also part of their act, and once again was put to good use. This time, Harpo and Chico harassed a lemonade vendor. It was hilarious and it proves why the brothers are comic legends.

It may be fruitless to describe the plot because its flimsy and complicated all at once, so I shall only deliver the gist. Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) is named new leader of Freedonia at the request of wealthy benefactor, Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont). At his inauguration, he insults everyone. The person who gets the brunt of these insults is Ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern), from neighboring Sylvania. Trentino sends his two spies, Pinky (Harpo) and Chicolini (Chico) to gather information on Firefly. Regardless, the insults from Firefly will lead to war between the two nations.

The brothers are on fine form here. Groucho continues delivering hilarious wit line after line. Harpo and Chico do very well with their physical comedy as we see in the lemonade stand scenes. Too bad they did not play their instruments, because I hear they generally do so in their movies. Zeppo, the straight man, plays Groucho’s secretary Bob Roland and does a solid job.

The musical scenes are great! I loved that Freedonia’s national anthem, which we hear every time Groucho walks into a room, is a ripoff of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” While I did enjoy the film from start to finish, I’m grateful it is only an hour and ten minutes long. I felt the film began to lose steam towards the end during the war scenes. That said, these scenes featured some excellent comedic gags. Namely, the uniform switching. Groucho could be a Union soldier, or a Confederate soldier, or heck even a soldier under Davy Crockett’s command.

If you want to be introduced to the Marx Brothers, start with Duck Soup. Their first MGM picture A Night at the Opera would be a solid choice if you do not mind some cheap, unbelievable romance. There is none of that here. Just some relevant political farce that would work extremely well in today’s world given our political climate. I laughed. I smiled. I had a great time! So should you.

My Grade: A-